One in four children in England are not considered “school ready” by the Department of Education and there is a growing trend of children not having sufficient personal, emotional and social skills when they start school.
The Department for Education considers children “school-ready” if they show a “good level of development”, according to the early learning goals in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS; Department for Education, 2013).
Based on this definition, over a quarter of children in England (28.2 %) are not school-ready by the age of five (Department for Education, 2019).
There are also anecdotal reports from teachers and EYFS professionals that highlight factors such as poor social development and personal management skills which have a negative impact on a child’s ability to thrive in a school setting.
The Lecturers and Teachers Association conducted research in 2016 which found that 70% of primary schools reported an increase in children starting school wearing nappies with as many as 1 in 6 pupils starting school without being toilet trained.
Arguably, the more time teachers and teaching assistants spend helping children who are not school ready in these areas (taking them to the toilet, helping them put on their coat) the poorer the learning experience will be for the whole class.
Mirakin World (www.mirakin.world) is a new entertainment channel created by experienced educationalists and international children’s TV producers, with the aim of producing fun, entertaining and engaging content that helps pre-school children prepare for school.
The programme content addresses early years learning goals and the social, practical and emotional skills that Early Years Foundation Stage professionals have determined are vital to helping a child reach their full potential at school.
Talking about the new channel launch Dr Amanda Gummer of Fundamentally Children (educational consultant to the Mirakin World) explained,
“We are often asked for advice on what is good for young children to watch on TV, so it was exciting to be invited to work with a business that is genuinely trying to address the issue of young children arriving at school ill prepared for their learning journey. It is all too easy these days to outsource parenting to the iPad or mobile, but now Mirakin World is creating content that it is shaped by educational professionals, but is still exciting and fun for the pre-school child.”
The new Mirakin channel can be found on YouTube, or via the mirakin.world website. With new content in development all the time, the channel is set to grow, but at this point the business is asking for parents with young children to take a look, have some fun, and help their children learn the vital skills they will need when they arrive at school.
Distributed by Pressat